The present invention relates generally to the field of thermoformer and heat sealer machines. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of thin wall packaging used in connection with thermoformer machines.
Thermoformer machines are typically used to form and cut a blister-type package from a stock roll of material, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and/or polystyrene. Thereafter, the formed package is delivered to a heat seal machine, where an article is inserted within the formed package and the formed package is then sealed to a backing material. Such conventional thermoformer machines are not without drawbacks. First, use of a stock roll of material requires the thermoformer to include a trim press operation to cut the stock roll to the desired shape of the blister package. Use of a trim press operation produces a significant amount of scrap material to be discarded and increases the overall time it takes to produce a formed package. Second, conventional thermoformer machines typically stack the formed and cut blister packages for delivery to the heat sealing machine. The stacking of such blister packages requires that such blister packages be formed and cut by the thermoformer to have a non-zero draft side wall, so that such blister packages can be removed from each other and fed to the heat sealer machine.
The present invention is a thermoformer which produces zero scrap during the heating, forming and cutting of a blister package. In one embodiment, the thermoformer comprises a precut roll having a series of adjacent webs connected by a cut area. Each of the webs are defined by an overall length L, a width W, and a radius R. Each of the cut areas are defined by a cut depth D1, said cut depth D being in the range of about 25% to 90% of the width W of the webs. The thermoformer further comprises a heating station adapted to heat each of the webs. The thermoformer further comprises a forming station adapted to form each of the webs. The thermoformer further comprises a cutting station adapted to separate the webs from each other by making a cut along each of the cut areas connecting the webs.